Kitchari Cleanse – great time for it!

If, after the holidays, you want to do a little detox, lighten up, save a few dollars, and begin the New Year with a healthy diet, I would suggest starting the year with a one-to three-day kitchari monodiet. Kitchari is THE Ayurvedic superfood that is easy to prepare and costs approximately $2 a bowl if you make it from scratch. The recipes may vary but the recommendation to eat kitchari is universal in Ayurvedic treatments everywhere. Kitchari is primarily used to help people restore their digestive functions, reduce unhealthy cravings, recover from illness or stress, and help clear ama(toxic sludge) from the body (signals of ama may include a thick, white coating on our tongue, a feeling of sluggishness, or a new unpleasant body odor). There’s no time like the present to treat yourself to a few days of tasty kitchari when you’re hungry and allow your body to rest after the decadent holiday season.

There are many ways to make kitchari, but here is a recipe from local Ayurvedic practitioner Ronly Blau.

Ingredients:

1½ cups split (easier to digest) or whole mung beans

1½ cups brown basmati or brown jasmine rice

1 bunch cilantro

2-3 TBS whole mustard seeds

1-2 inches of fresh tumeric root peeled (or 1 TBS powder)

1-2 inches of fresh ginger root peeled (if your blender isn’t strong you can grate this ahead of time, or use 1 TBS powder)

3½ cups water (you can some of the amount of water with coconut water which is sweet and adds healthy fat if it contains pulp or coconut meat. This adds calories for those trying to put on weight or satisfy a craving for something “rich”)

Directions:

Soak beans and rice overnight. Rinse well and put in a pot or pressure cooker. In Vita mix of blender mix together:

Cilantro, mustard seeds, turmeric & ginger

Add 3-6 cups of filtered water and blend until it makes a gorgeous green slurry. Pour enough of the wet mixture to cover the rice/beans (you may have some of the slurry left-over and you can put this in the fridge/freezer to use it for your next batch!

Turn on high heat and allow mixture to boil for about 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to low for another 20 minutes making sure that there is enough water. Add more water by ½ cup amounts if it looks to dry. Turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan and allow it to finish cooking until you want to eat. Cook until rice is fluffy and beans are soft

(only 8 min in pressure cooker!). Add salt and pepper to taste.

In addition to the kitchari monodiet, here are a few Ayurvedic herbs and spices to help reduce kapha and improve your health throughout the winter:

As a general rule, when you want to decrease Kapha imbalances (weight gain, depression, weak digestion, white coating on the tongue, and/or excess mucous in the body) this season, minimize sweet, sour, and salty foods and increase foods and herbs that are pungent (like ginger), bitter (like coffee and turmeric root), and astringent (like chickpeas and goldenseal) to ensure good digestive fire. When digestion is good, immunity is strong and life is full of possibilities! Om.